These embodiments relate to quick release line guides and other line guides and more particularly to devices that can be used to help organize lines that are used in the marine industry. The marine industry and sailing in particular uses many lines mainly for sails but also for other devices. The lines generally run along the top of the deck back to the cockpit so that the captain or crew can raise and lower sails and other devices such as roller furlers.
Because there can be many lines on the deck they can become entangled or misplaced. It is important to know which line that you are pulling or releasing so that the sail or other device can take the correct action to maximize speed in racing for example.
It may also be important from a safety standpoint that the correct line is pulled or released at the appropriate time for safety reasons if the winds are high or weather is changing or to avoid a collision and many other reasons.
Sailors and boat operators need a way or device that can keep the lines placed at the same position in the cockpit or on the deck so that all who are adjusting them can make sure that they are taking the appropriate action at the appropriate time.
Line guides are one way of doing this. Most line guides are single pieces that have two screw or bolt holes through which are inserted bolts or screws and the line guides are attached to or through the deck or another fixed location. These line guides are solid blocks of material with holes through them for retaining the lines. The lines are then be run through the holes in the line guides. Many times there are several line guides along the deck so that a single line from the bow of the boat can be run to the cockpit of the boat and not become entangled or confused with another line on the deck. If the distance that the line needs to be run requires the use of two or more line guides then the lines need to be fed through each of the line guides individually by hand. This can be difficult if the line has a stopper knot to prevent the line from releasing from the line guides or the line is under tension as when under sail.
If a stopper knot is being used, then the knot must be untied, the line slipped through the hole in the line guide and the stopper knot tied again so that any tension on the line does not pull the line from the hole in the line guide. This is time consuming and somewhat hazardous if the line is released from the crew members grip and releases back through the line guide(s) to the bow for example where unintended results can occur. It can also be difficult to recover a line if it was attached to a sail and the released end is now blowing in the wind over the water.
Some marine operators use a furler which is a device that can roll up a sail if it is no longer needed and store the rolled sail in an upright position or stored below deck. This sail can then also be unrolled or unfurled by releasing one line while retaining a second line. Some furlers have two lines wrapped around a drum to furl and unfurl the sails. This can be problematic if the wind is blowing hard and some have trouble in running out of line before the sail is fully furled or rolled.
In other words, the wind can be blowing so hard that one cannot roll up the sail or one turn of the furler does not pull in the sail or pulls it in very little. This condition necessitates more line to spin the furler more revolutions which accordingly requires more line. One plans for the worst but some furlers, in windy conditions, cannot completely roll in a sail because there is a finite amount of line.
This problem has been address by using a loop of continuous line around the furler such that it is referred to as a continuous line furler. The line is looped back to the cockpit for instance and then by pulling on one end of this loop, the furler rolls up the sail and by pulling on the other end of the line, the furler unrolls the sail. In this circumstance the line never runs out as it is a loop and continuing to pull on the line will result in the action of the sail that is needed.
A continuous line furler, because the line is a loop, with the standard line guides, the line must be run through the line guides to the cockpit, one set of lines for the furling and one for the unfurling of the sail. The line is then spliced together to form the continuous loop. This requires the splicing of the furling line to be done on the boat. This can be inconvenient for the user to always have to have this continuous loop located at the same position on deck. Un-splicing and re-splicing the line to move to a different line guide is not a task that can be done quickly. If the line guides could open so that these continuous lines could be removed from the line guides and either placed in a different line guide or in a different location would be most convenient.
Other non-continuous lines could also be moved relatively easily and quickly from a first line guide to a second line guide with less risk of losing a line to the wind. By removing a line from one guide and placing it in a second guide and then removing the line from a third line guide and placing it in a fourth line guide the lines can be adjusted almost at the whim of the users.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for different types of line guides.